Walter Maciel Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work entitled Making Infinity Imaginable by Brendan Lott. Featured in Gallery 1, Lott’s exhibition marks his second solo show with the gallery.

Brendan Lott presents an overview of multi-panel photographic works that explore his ongoing interest in the sublime. Inspired by 20th century physics which offers new interpretations of the sublime ranging from sheer immensity and age of the universe to time dilation and quantum mechanics, Lott focuses on the intensity of light both in the terms of literal experience in Southern California and in a figurative sense to destroy reason. The new work offers a flexible format that affects both the physical patterning while challenging conceptual notions of astonishment.

Using simple images taken with his iPhone, Lott creates a grid of visual information with a specific selection of rows and columns to form geometric abstractions. Each image can be hung one of four ways creating an enormous number of patterning options for the overall pictorial field. For example, the piece Approximately 4.3 Billion Sunsets contains 16 images of the same Santa Monica sunset tipped at a 45 degree angle. When grouped together in a 4 by 4 grid, the subject becomes less about the specific sunset imagery and more about the overall visual design. Perhaps even more astounding is the notion that the piece can be rearranged by the viewer and observed in 4,294,967,296 ways. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to arrange the positioning of the pieces and the viewer gets to be a part of the decision making process while physically, mentally and emotionally interacting with the imagery. The show will include several different formats of multiple panel works, some of which are installed with overlapping surfaces. In the piece Making Infinity Imaginable, four identical panels depict rays of light piercing through the clouds. The panels are arranged in an “X” format with the beams of light spilling off each edge that leads to the diamond shaped void on the background wall. The panels are installed in a stacked format creating a sense of sculptural depth which enhances the overall visual effects. As with any work of art it is up to the viewer to access the work but Lott simply makes it more tangible.

After receiving a BFA in filmmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, Lott did his graduate work at Stanford University earning his MFA in 2006. He had his first solo show entitled Up and Down and Top and Bottom and Charm and Strange with our gallery in 2011 and has been included in several group shows. Last spring a group of his collages were shown at Tenoversix boutique in West Hollywood. Lott has had a solo museum show at the San Jose Museum of Art in 2008 and he has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, UC Riverside Sweeny Art Gallery and Southern Exposure. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards including an E. Eric and Elizabeth D. Johnson Fellowship in Studio Art, a Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship in the Fine Arts and in 2012, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant.